Tuesday, April 22, 2008

'FEE FIE FOE FUM - I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN!Americans share pretty much the same fairy tales as the British, I think. Or at least they used to, anyway. I am finding some juicy "British-isms" in some of them too, during my re-discovery research. Some are not so much for children, I think, now that I'm reading them after I'm older. Some are downright SCARY indeed! Why did my mom read this to me as a child, I wonder? Was I THAT bad of a little kid?

A sad smile crosses Max's little dog face as he remembers Mom and the beanstalk story...and the multi-colored beans...and the family's milk-cow..and the soothing music of the magic harp. Now what part of Max's crowded brain did those memories come from?

Max is a collector. That sounds better than "Packrat". One of his interests is early editions of fairy tale collections, especially the ones with rich illustrations. In fact, early color illustrations in general are an object of Max's collecting. Anybody out there have some old fairy tale collection books--in the original ENGLISH? I sadly find that so many which are available in America, even the really old ones, have been "translated" into Americanese. That doesn't give Max the wealth of British words and phases that he had hoped for. If you do, give me holler. (Please comment, I mean. If you truly holler, I'll not likely hear you.)

I used to have an awful lot of the Ladybird fairytale books. They were very sweet little stories, with all the gore and sex of the originals taken out, but I loved them anyway. I also had a big book of Grimms' fairytales with gorgeous colour plates that I can still remember.

You're right, A - I can't imagine why we would say milk-cow. Jack would just have swapped his cow for beans, no milk involved. (Possibly she'd even dried up, which would be a good reason to sell her!)

@Caroline-Pantomime? No. That's almost a lost art in America. Red Skelton used to do that. You are too young to remember his tv show. Plus you didn't grow up in America anyway, so never mind about Red.

Sounds interesting, despite the mention of the wbf person. Tell me more. Now, please. And DO see if MUM will send you the book. In fact, just put Mum directly in contact with Max if you please. Hmmmmm? :)

What is your fascination with getting in touch with my mum? Actually don't answer that.

Pantomime in England is different from what you are proabably thinking of, and odds are I am spelling it wrong.

Its a theatrical way of telling fairy stories, but there are certain rules to it.

For example, the lead male character, is played by a woman. Lets use Jack and the Beanstalk as an example. Jack would be played by a woman, his mum however, would be played by a block. "Good" characters always enter the stage from one side, and the "Bad" characters from the other.

The audience also becomes involved. Everytime the bad guy is on stage (in this case the guy who sells Jack the beans), the audience "boos". It is also common for the audience to shout out "he's behind you" when the Bad guy is hiding.

I don't know all the rules to it, but its quite silly. They normally run around christmas time, and the cast is often made up of has been tv stars. I'll try to find out more for you, but I am sure there's people on here, who know more than I do on the subject.

@Caroline-Thank you for brightening Max's day by appearing here. You are right, then--pantomime is indeed different here. Pantomime, as an American practice is the telling of a story using only moving around and using gestures; one is not allowed to speak. The game Charades comes to mind. Pantomime is old. Vaudville. ettarose may remember. [SLAP!!! CRASH!! KICK!!!!!]

Or perhaps not.

I am not going to discuss Mum here.

This British version of pantomime is fascinating though. Do you know more about it you could tell me? Have you personally participated?

@Caroline-I watched it. Strange. Weird. Funny though. And it brings up another point--the British fascination for men dressing in drag. Benny Hill used to do that a lot. Many others of course. In America, a man by the name of Milton Berle used to do it on his TV show a lot. He would still smoke his big cigar though, as a woman.

You are a treasure of info, Caroline. I appreciate you taking so much time for me. I will think of something to pay you back. Although you seem to already have everything.

You remember a movie called "An American in Paris?" No? Well, anyway, I think I will call you "A Geordie in Portland". How's that?

Also I think American Pantomime is shortened to just "mime" in Europe and is often done in white face.

@Caroline-I think you are right about the Shakespeare assumption. Catherine or Alison would know. Have your met these nice ladies, btw? Both made a rare appearance on the blog today. That hasn't happened in a long time. (Alison on another post.) Catherine is an awesome intellectual, in my opinion, although she might bash me for saying it. She is in N. Ireland now, but is, I believe, from Wales. The delightful Alison is astounding as well. Too many attributes to mention here. Among them though is being a castle guide/hostess for Castle Fraser in Scotland. Though I don't think she is Scots.

But I WANT to repay Caroline! Truly!

You might be surprised to hear that Max is into Shakespeare, wouldn't you? Such a variety of interests, this little doggie. :)

I love castles. My mum used to take me to them a lot as a kid. I finally had a tour of the castle in my home town (Durham Castle) when I was last back. I learnt so much. I am constantly amazed at how many stories there are, even from my own home town.

Thank you Catherine and Lolly, no way in this country would we say milk-cow. You can lecture me all you like Master Max, we have calves, heifer and cows, bullocks and bulls, and meat, in this country. No milk-cows, no steers. I thought that was what you were interested in - differences in words ;)